Closing time: Eastbound SR 520 closing Oct. 14-15 weekend

SEATTLE – Eastbound drivers on State Route 520 are about to gain after a weekend of pain. First the pain. Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will close eastbound SR 520 next weekend. The gain: When the roadway reopens Monday morning, drivers will have more elbowroom on eastbound 520 while gaining an extra mile of carpool/transit lane.

From 11 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, until 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 16, crews will close all eastbound lanes of SR 520 and all associated on- and off-ramps between I-5 and 84th Avenue Northeast. During the closure, crews will move the eastbound transit/HOV lane closer to Montlake, giving drivers an HOV lane about a mile farther west than the current configuration. Crews will also work on signage, electrical systems and drainage, and repave a section of Montlake Boulevard south of SR 520.

The new, 1.2 mile-long West Approach Bridge, which opened to traffic in August, added three westbound lanes of SR 520 from the new floating bridge to Montlake. Consequently, only eastbound traffic now uses the older west approach bridge. After the weekend closure, the older structure, which carried two lanes of traffic in each direction, will carry three eastbound lanes.

It’s only temporary
Drivers will use this new configuration for about a year, until late 2018 when crews begin work on the next phase of SR 520 construction, called the Montlake Phase. Until that time, the highway will have three travel lanes, in both directions, between Montlake Boulevard and the Eastside.

The Montlake Phase involves constructing new eastbound lanes that will connect Montlake to the floating bridge. To build this new eastbound structure, crews will shift all SR 520 traffic onto the new West Approach Bridge North. As a result, that stretch of SR 520 will be back to two lanes in each direction. Once the Montlake Phase is completed, SR 520 will again carry six lanes of traffic between the Eastside and Montlake – three in each direction, including transit/HOV lanes.

For information on road closures associated with SR 520 construction, please visit the SR 520 Orange Page and follow the project on Twitter.